


Cuddles don’t make everything better, but they help a lot

by AutisticWriter



Series: Riley's Prompt Meme Fills [19]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Confusion, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dom/sub Undertones, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s03e15 Alone At Sea, F/F, Fear, Gem touching, Gift Fic, Guilt, Happy Ending, Hugs, Implied Jasper/Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe), Kissing, One Shot, Praise Kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-06 01:07:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18840514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutisticWriter/pseuds/AutisticWriter
Summary: After the incident with Jasper out at sea, Lapis feels weak, pathetic and ashamed. Peridot, wanting to make her feel better, decides to copy Lapis’ habit of giving her cuddles and soft praise to cheer Peridot up, and pulls Lapis into a tight hug.





	Cuddles don’t make everything better, but they help a lot

**Author's Note:**

> Anti-shippers don't interact.

An episode of _Camp Pining Hearts_ plays on the TV, but Lapis doesn’t watch, her eyes staring at nothing. Even Peridot can’t focus on her favourite TV show, and it takes a lot for that to happen. But her focus can’t help but wander, not with Lapis in this state.

She’s never seen Lapis look like this before. Lapis Lazuli is good at being grumpy and scared and happy (the latter much more than the others these days, thankfully), but Peridot has never seen this expression before. She wants to ask what is wrong, why Lapis stares into the middle distance and wraps her arms around herself like she’ll fall apart if she lets go, but she has no idea where to start.

Lapis was acting weirdly when she, Steven and Greg got back from their fishing trip the other day, and she hasn’t gotten any better since. And she hasn’t talked about what happened. Steven clearly wanted to gush all about it, but he glanced at Lapis and bit his tongue (literally); did Lapis not want him to talk about their experience? Just what happened out there?

Strangely enough, the weirdest thing right now is the lack of arms around Peridot. Lapis always cuddles Peridot when they watch _Camp Pining Hearts_ , but since the other day, Lapis hasn’t touched Peridot once, preferring to wrap her arms around her torso and look upset for reasons Peridot doesn’t understand. It might sound selfish, but she misses the hugs.

Lapis always gives the best hugs. She may be a bit stand-offish around others, but Peridot gets to see her sweet, loving side. And Lapis loves to hug Peridot close and whisper soothing things and it always helps when Peridot gets stressed about normal things in everyday life that don’t bother most gems, calming Peridot down and reminding her that she is loved. She loves it when Lapis tells her nice things, she really does.

So for Lapis to not be doing any of that stuff… it’s really weird.

Eventually, Peridot works out how exactly to broach the subject, and shuffles closer to Lapis. “Uh, Lapis…”

Lapis turns her head, a flash of panic in her eyes. “Yeah?”

“Can we talk about… your fishing trip?”

“What?” Lapis says, flinching. “What do you mean?”

“You’re upset, Lapis,” Peridot says, well aware she’s awful at this but also that nobody else will do it. “Something happened. Please, you can talk to me.”

Lapis lets out a long, shaky sigh, head turned in her direction but not looking at Peridot’s face. “I… You’ll hate me,” she whispers, sad and bitter and… ashamed?

“What? I don’t understand. Why would I hate you?” Her forehead pinches into a confused frown, shuffling to get a better look at Lapis. “Lapis?”

She screws her eyes up. “You will. I just know it.”

Something aches deep inside her gem, and Peridot grimaces. Just what is going on? “No, I won’t hate you. Don’t be dumb.”

“You promise?” Lapis says, opening her eyes a bit.

Peridot nods. “I promise.” She holds out her hand. “You can talk to me.”

Lapis gives a weak smile, sighing again. “Thank you. Look… it’s a long story.”

“It’s okay. We can always watch this episode again, anyway.”

Nodding, Lapis tells Peridot about the fishing trip in a tentative voice. She learns about it all… about Jasper. About how Jasper begged Lapis to fuse again, and how Lapis said she actually missed being stuck in that unhealthy mess of a fusion.

When the story is over, Lapis hugs her knees to her chest, tears shining in her eyes.

“Lapis…” she whispers, trying to take it all in.

“So do you get it now?” Lapis hisses, so close to tears but somehow holding them back. “I feel pathetic. The time I spent under the sea was awful, totally awful. But then I realised I missed it. How could I be so stupid?!”

The tears spill over, angry, humiliated tears that turn into desperate sobs.

Oh… so she was ashamed. Ashamed to have such weird feelings about a time of her life she should hate.

“Oh, Lapis,” Peridot says, that ache in her gem getting worse and worse.

“You hate me now, right?” Lapis sobs. “You hate me for being so weak and wanting to be fused with Jasper again, don’t you? Go on, leave me. Someone like me doesn’t deserve—”

Peridot stops her self-deprecation in the only way she can think of; she lunges at Lapis and pulls her into a hug. Lapis flinches, but doesn’t pull away, and Peridot cuddles her closer.

“Peridot…?”

“Don’t talk like that,” she says, wriggling onto her knees so she can rest her chin on the top of Lapis’ head. “Don’t ever talk like that.”

Lapis sniffs. “But—”

“No, listen to me. You give the best cuddles, Lapis, and they always make me feel better. So I’m giving you a cuddle now.”

“You don’t seriously think a cuddle can solve this?” Lapis mutters.

“Of course I don’t,” Peridot says, well aware how illogical the entire notion of problem-solving cuddles. “A cuddle can’t make everything better. That’s impossible. But… they can help. A lot.”

She rubs Lapis’ back, fingers tracing her gem. Lapis shivers, calming down a bit.

“Lapis, what you had with Jasper… it was messed up. You shouldn’t have had to go through that. And being fused for so long… of course it made you sympathise with her. Mixed feelings don’t make you a bad person. I mean, even though she’s a total clod, I still admire Yellow Diamond sometimes. This stuff, it’s… screwed it.”

Lapis scoffs thickly. “You’ve got that right.”

“So… it’s okay, really,” Peridot says, touching Lapis’ gem again, an action that makes Lapis melt into her. She never knew this before she started cuddling Lapis, but another gem’s fingers against your own gem feels amazing. So it’s only fair to give Lapis a turn. “And… I think you’re really brave, Lapis.”

“What?”

“You’re brave. You’re strong. You’ve been through so much, but you’re always looking after me. You’re awesome.”

Of course, her attempts at soothing words are pretty crummy, but Lapis appreciates it.

She shifts slightly and looks up at Peridot, no more tears in her eyes. “Do you really mean that?”

Peridot smiles, leaning down to kiss Lapis’ tear-stained cheeks as she trails her fingers across her gem once more. “I sure do. I love you, Lapis.”

Lapis slumps against her, lost in the feeling of Peridot carefully stroking her gem and the soothing praise just given to her. “I… I love you too. Oh, and Peridot?”

“Yeah?”

“Wow, thanks,” Lapis whispers, hugging her like she can’t let go.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want me to write you a short fic, drop in a prompt at my [personal prompt meme](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/AutisticWriters_Personal_Prompt_Meme)!


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